27 Years
by Jack Mirembe
Summary: Time changes everything. But how much? Cyborg's about to find out.
1. Chapter I

_This was a sort of random idea that wouldn't leave me alone, that ended up being written in **Mechanics**, though less fleshed out. You asked for it, so here you go! Chapter 1 is alot like the original, but it'll be all new stuff after this. Enjoy!_

_I own a headache, from trying to write a smart person._

* * *

The image was fuzzy.

Static blurred the edges of his vision, turning the world around him into a bad movie. Not that there was really much to see. He couldn't make out very much beyond the small circle of light that surrounded him.

Dark blurs loomed around him, shapes reaching in from the sides of his vision. He couldn't turn his head to see the rest of his surroundings. With a jolt of panic, he found that he couldn't move. It was like the time his system froze. He had been left stranded in the garage for a whole night. Beast Boy had found him that morning, lying flat on his face on the cold concrete. At least then, he knew somebody would eventually check on him. He didn't even know where he was. All he could do was stare straight forward into the rest of the dark room and wait.

A bright rectangle of light appeared, laying a carpet of light across the floor that ended at his feet. It blinded him for a moment. Then a slim silhouette moved into the doorway, casting a shadow down the length of the room. Then the doors closed without a sound, and the room fell into darkness again.

He couldn't hear, move, and could barely see. Not to mention he had no idea where he was. Now, there was this person walking around in the dark. This was a whole new ballpark. He had to be ready for anything.

The entire room was suddenly flooded with light. Lights all around the room came on around him, revealing the shadows to be the shapes of tool boxes and storage systems. It actually looked sort of familiar, except for the fact he couldn't distinguish anything beyond general size and shape. A blurry figure was moving around the room, touching the grey walls. Where ever the person-shaped blur stopped, portions of the wall would light up into blue screens covered with white scrawls. He followed the blur's movement around the room with his eyes while he strained his memory. If he could remember, he might be able to counteract whatever damage had been done that had left him unable to move.

There was nothing. He could remember breakfast, training. Then video games and an alert, before nothing. Hours were completely missing from his memory.

_What happened?_

_You were transported 27 years from the past to the future. There was an anomaly or something. Whoever sent you here had really faulty equipment. People shouldn't play with the time-space continuum if they can't figure out how to handle power surges. Anyways, it drained your power, and you shut down._

Cyborg would have jumped if he could have moved. A telepath, perfect. He had never really been comfortable to the idea of someone else being able to simply sift through his mind. Beast Boy had told him stories about his old leader, who had been a strong enough telepath to leave people jibbering on the floor. Robin had stories too, about insane people that wrenched away control and created armies of near-zombies. He had thought they were just playing with him. Until Raven demonstrated how easy it was. She wasn't the strongest telepath, but she still managed to control Beast Boy long enough to beat him at a game of chess.

He tried to bring up a list of telepathic rouges, but couldn't. His databases were down. All of them. He was really starting to panic. Couldn't let it show though, had to be tough. This guy had to be really bad, to take him captive and disrupt all his systems. He just had to stay calm.

_What? Shut down?_

_Well, more like crashed. But it isn't a big deal. I've managed to get all the important systems online. Life support, internal regulators, CPU. Took about three days, but what does that matter. It was really a piece of cake, seeing as how it's all old systems. The difficult part was trying to keep the rest of you stable while I fixed them. Almost lost you, but you should be in the clear now. I mean, you wouldn't be able to have this type of conversation if you were about to give out on me. You wouldn't be able to focus enough. Or maybe you would, if you were just being stubborn. But you don't have enough power to try and move around or be running any extra programs, so no mental Minesweeper or anything like that. It took a little more time than I was expecting, but I got your old charger to work. You should be up to full power in about...three days. No wait, wrong project. Four hours._

The thoughts were accompanied by faint images and the echoes of sounds that floated around his mind before fading away. Cyborg blinked, trying to clear his head of his talkative host and the rush of ideas that weren't his. He needed room for his own thoughts. A bad guy wouldn't have fixed him. Probably would have just left him to rot. And that was the sorriest excuse for a monologue he had ever heard. Not a single death threat or promise of worldwide destruction.

_Everything looks normal. Heart rate is stable, power level rising steadily. I'm pretty sure I've gone over everything, but if there's anything specific you want me to tweak..._

_Umm, I think there's something wrong with my optic feed... and my audio._

_Alright. Let me check it out._

The blur finished with the newest touch screen and walked across the room to where he was propped up. Snatching up a few tools on the way, he moved around behind and out of his field of limited vision. After a few moments, sound suddenly reappeared in the form of gentle beeping and the rustling of clothing. A faint sigh came from behind him. A teenaged voice, male by the sounds of it.

"Why didn't you say you couldn't hear anything?"

_I didn't know...wait, how do you even know how to do that? How did you know how to do any of this? Nobody but me and the Titans know how to put me together. And none of them know how to work the more delicate stuff._

His new repairman laughed. It was a familiar sound, like a remix of an old favorite song.

"You can actually talk if you want. I'm just used to using my mind. My mom says I was projecting my thoughts before I was born."

His tongue felt thick as he watched the room slowly became clearer. It was his room. He was on his bed table, in his room. Even though it was different. The paint was faded and pictures he had never seen before were scattered around.

"That's not what I asked you. How did you know how to fix me? And how did you get into the Tower?"

Another laugh. It was odd listening to it. He wasn't sure where he knew the sound from. The difference was subtle but enough to throw him off.

"I live here. And you showed me. Or you will show me. Seeing as how when you're from, I don't even exist. Well not yet."

"What...who are you?" Job complete, the kid moved around to face him.

For a moment, he was sure he was looking at Beast Boy. The same slim build and lanky limbs. Big eyes, green, pointed ears. Then he saw the little things. The hair was too long, and his best friend rarely wore a t-shirt and jeans. There was no fang. But there was a tattoo, peeking out from underneath a shirt sleeve.

The near look-a-like smiled Beast Boy's smile.

"A friend. Don't worry. It'll all work out, I promise."

He didn't have a chance to ask more questions. Fainting had a tendency to make interrogations rather difficult.


	2. Chapter II

_Hooray for Chapter 2! Sorry if it's a little slow. I'm just trying that I get everything in order before we dive in. And that will happen rather soon. Thanks for being patient. Enjoy!_

_My hand is falling asleep...odd. Oh well, I still don't own the Titans. _

* * *

The room was dark again when Cyborg woke up. His table was now lying level, instead of straight up. Carefully, he tested his limbs. A surge of happiness flowed through him when everything responded correctly. Slowly, he sat up and looked around. One of the wall screens was blinking gently. There was a message.

He walked across to the screen. His name scrolled across the screen. Maybe some of the old software was still working.

"Play message."

Instantly, the telepath's voice filled the room. He moved around carefully, looking at all the pictures while the boy spoke. In every one, the faces of his friends looked out at him. There was Robin with longer hair and a very less flamboyant costume. Starfire and Raven, both grown and smiling. No Beast Boy though. He barely heard the boy's message.

"_Hey, Cyborg. Hope you're feeling better! Look, I know this is all has got to be pretty weird for you. So when you're ready, why don't you come down to the garage? You can ask me all the questions you want. And I'm pretty sure you've got a lot. I would. Ready when you are."_

The pictures were tempting. He knew how the story started, and here was apparently how it ended. The middle, all the important stuff, was waiting to be discovered. And the answers were all waiting downstairs.

Part of him of him wanted to go down to the garage. He wanted answers. Not to mention the fact that he really wanted to get back to his own time period. But more than that, he was simply curious. That kid meant that, at least in Beast Boy's case, it was possible for the Titans to be more than just heroes.

They had the chance to have families, to finally have something worth protecting and fighting for that was more than just a personal promise. It also meant that they did something right, because there was still a Jump City to protect, still a world worth fighting for. Somebody was still fighting the good fight. The only question was what kind of world were they fighting for?

As much as he wanted to head down those stairs and interrogate that kid's pointed ears off, he didn't want to leave the shelter of his old room. The way he saw it, the future was supposed to be a mystery. If he was supposed to know what was going to happen, he would have been born a psychic. Add to that the whole idea of destroying the time-stream and he started feeling antsy. He gave a groan.

"Okay Cyborg. You've got two choices. Stay in the room and wait to get sent back. Or you can go down there and figure out what's going on." He started pacing the room subconsciously.

"Well, maybe I won't even get sent back. Raven could just find me again. But that kid said it was a machine or something. So maybe she couldn't do that." He passed by the large desk that stood against the wall. Beast Boy, looking a lot taller and more muscled than he remembered, was in quite a few of the pictures.

"I can't mess with the future. I'll get back somehow, but I can't screw this up."

And there, right on the end, was a very blurry picture that had to include Beast Boy. That much green had to be the little dude. It almost looked like the photographer had been trying to catch a transformation on film. The result wasn't very good. He picked it up to get a better look at it.

"Should have used a faster camera. No way you could catch B in mid..." Then a memory came rushing back.

* * *

_Beast Boy growled in anger, silhouetted by flames and smoke. He spared a glance at him, and then started moving. Rushing away from him, toward something else._

"_Make sure they're all okay, I'll hold this guy off." Then his slim frame warped in front of him, stretching itself into something large with claws. A panther or something. The large cat charged a light that was steadily building._

* * *

"Beast Boy." The picture frame slipped from his slack fingers. He heard the glass crack as the frame hit the floor. It didn't matter. He could remember what had happened. Well he could sort of remember. It was just a little but it was enough. That little snippet of memory was all the reason he needed.

Without bothering to pick up the photograph, he moved towards the door. Giant monkey kings or not, his friends were in trouble back in their time. And it would take a lot more than a trip into the future to stop him from helping them.


	3. Chapter III

_Chapter Three! Haha, this took me about an entire day to write. Yeah it's sort of depressing. It should have taken me a lot less time. *sigh* Oh well! (Don't worry, the res of the author's note is at the end). Warnings? Umm, talk about butt whooping and a few 'shut ups'. So yeah, nothing to worry about. : )_

_I don't own the Titans, BUT I do want to lay claim on the Twins. Whom you will meet shortly, enjoy!_

* * *

He felt the bass beat from the elevator. As he moved lower and lower into the Tower, the vibration slowly became sound. By the time the doors opened, he could hear the guitar chords ringing out. The walk to the garage got louder and louder as he went towards the doors. The double sliding doors opened with a barely heard swoosh.

The sound hit him over the head like a hammer. He couldn't help but smile as he clapped his hands over his ears. It was a song he actually knew. Which meant it wasprobably completely out of date now. Didn't matter. The best stuff never goes bad. He would have yelled for the kid. But then the music was so loud, he probably wouldn't have been heard. The garage had incredible acoustics, with its high ceilings and lack of carpet. The sound just bounced around, filling the entire room to the seams and seeping out into the rest of the tower.

What really took his breath away was the machine in front of him. Cables twice as thick as his arm were running in every direction like the roots of a giant tree. Brightly colored wires were bundled up and out of the way. They hung from the ceiling like decorations for a bizarre techno-themed birthday party. He knew they had to be feeding the machine information and power. Looking at the huge thing, he could understand why there were so many wires.

It looked like one of those cheap garden lattices, the kind that was supposed to let the plants grow up and over a pathway. The only difference was that this one was nearly five times as large and much more intimidating. It looked like it was solid steel, covered in dozens of lights and sensors. An even larger pair of generators loomed like massive bodyguards behind it.

_Dude, send up the third thingmawhatzis from the left. I need to connect it to the ionic flux-stabilizer so the temporal interface doesn't blow up in our faces. And another roll of duct tape._

The blasting music kept his scream of surprise from being heard. He was extremely happy Raven didn't use telepathy to communicate. After a deep breath to regain his composure, he started looking around for duct tape and whatever a 'thinmawhatzis' could be.

The long workbench was covered in tools, wires, and other useful items. Sketches going into detail about what he could guess were parts of the contraption in front of him were tacked up above the stainless steel surface. Along with the highly technical blue prints were multiple boxes filled with completely random items like socks, aluminum foil, feathers, and a large number of paperclips. There, duct tape. Right in the corner next to the rubber duckie.

_Sure. Is it not going to work like your other brilliant idea?_

_Shut up. You can't just let that go can you?_

He squealed again as a disembodied conversation took place inside his own head. It was rather disconcerting to be completely out of the loop inside your own mind.

Cyborg barely manged to get a hold of his frazzled nerves when the duct tape was suddenly glowing. He fell away from the box as the roll floated steadily up and away towards the archway. He managed not to yelp like a girl for what would have been the third time.

Time travel, telepaths, and now possessed duct tape. The future was screwed up. Cyborg pulled himself to his feet, following the hovering duct tape warily.

It led him across the room and behind the giant arch. There were more cables behind it than in front, which made walking a little more difficult. The beat of the music was insane at this point, pounding up his legs. It almost felt like there was a giant walking around somewhere in the room. By now he wouldn't have been surprised. The duct tape moved away, rounding the far corner of the second generator.

_Haha, just messing with you. You need..._

Suddenly Cyborg found himself hurtling around the corner, suspended by the same glowing energy as the duct tape. He came to a halt and was dropped unceremoniously on the floor. Grumbling, he looked up to come face to face with a large pair of boots. He tried to stand up, but found the glowing energy was now holding him to the floor.

_Gabe._

_Dude, where my thingmawhatzis? I can't just duct tape duct tape to this thing. __**That **__would be bad. Plus it'd be a waste of perfectly good duct tape..._

_Gabe._

..._I guess it would work if you gave me enough time. I'd have to figure out how the control the excess neutron flow so that it wouldn't melt the plastic. But it'd have to be pretty big, at least the first version..._

_Gabe!_

_What?_

_Shut. Up. Get down here. He's awake._

_Why didn't you just say so?_

The blaring music slowly faded away, leaving his ears ringing. Now if he could move, things would be perfect. Or as perfect as they could get seeing as how he was stuck in the future and his friends were in danger and he had no way to get back and help them. After a moment, a smaller pair of sneakers appeared next to the boots.

_Dude, why are you holding him to the floor? Let him up._

The energy subsided and he sat up. The kid was standing there, smiling happily. Right behind him was a much larger young man. Green boy was still in his loose t-shirt and baggy jeans, while the taller boy wore a hoodie and sweatpants. The ringing in his ears faded away as the Beast Boy look-a-like knelt in front of him, staring right into his eyes.

_Well, you look fine. Everything working okay?_

"Gabe, get out of his head. And scoot back. You're freaking him out." The larger boy had a deeper version of the telepath's voice. There it was again, that odd accent. Beast Boy was multilingual. Maybe his kid was too.

Said kid flopped onto his bottom across from Cyborg so they sat facing each other. Then he looked up at the taller boy and patted the concrete next to him. With a long suffering sigh, the larger boy settled himself down. The smaller boy turned his attention back to Cyborg. He coughed.

"So..." Cyborg realized he was staring the little guy down. Not out of rudeness, but the resemblance was amazing. This, right here was the future. He was staring the future of the Titans dead in the eyes.

There were so many questions he wanted to ask. Did they ever catch Slade? Was the Brotherhood still frozen? The hero in him had multiple questions to ask, but the teenager in him was just as strong. This was his best friend's kid. It was just weird to think about. He wanted to know about Starfire and Robin and Raven. What had happened? So he opened his mouth and blurted out the first question that came to mind.

"Gabe?" That also happened to be the dumbest question he could have started with. The future Titan didn't mind. He smiled widely and laughed.

"Technically, it's Gabriel. But nobody calls me that." The bigger boy snorted at that one.

"Except Mom when she's about to whoop your butt." Gabe shrugged.

"Except my mom. Sorry I didn't get a chance to introduce myself earlier. Seeing how you fainted and all. This is my twin, Michael." He motioned to the boy sitting next to him. "Which is what Mom calls him when she's gonna whoop _his _butt."

"It's what everybody calls me, genius." He wasn't really paying attention at what they were saying anymore. It was enough that he was still conscious. He tried to look them both over without being completely obvious.

They were definitely not identical. Gabe was all Beast Boy, built slim, green, and short. Michael was nearly a foot taller, with broader shoulders. Possibly the most incredible thing was the fact that he was blond with fair skin. It was slightly difficult to believe, but they had the same eyes and the same mouth. It would also explain the shared accent. He laughed loudly.

"It makes sense. Beast Boy would go and have twins."

Gabe frowned, obviously thinking something was wrong. Michael, however, smiled. He nudged his brother gently.

"He's happy, not crazy." Something about this statement upset the smaller green boy.

"Dude, no empathy. If I can't be inside his head, neither can you!" Cyborg calmed himself slightly to look at Michael.

"You're an empath. And a telekinetic, right?" Micheal nodded. "And you," he glanced at Gabe, "are a telepath. I already know that much." For some reason, he felt like he was trying to put together a puzzle, but had lost an important piece. The most frustrating part was that he felt like he knew what the piece should be. His frustration must have shown on his face, or maybe Michael was still reading his emotions because the empath was quick to change the subject.

"He's also a shapeshifter." Gabe whacked his twin in the side. He gave a very pointed look in response to his brother's yell.

"What? You look too much like Dad to try and keep it a secret. And he'd figure it out as soon as we get in a fight. Stop worrying." Cyborg knew he was lost now.

"Keep what a secret?" Gabe sighed. It was like watching a balloon deflate. Cyborg could see his energy levels drop.

"Fine, I'll explain. The fact that you're here in the future means that you have a really big chance to screw the future up." He couldn't help but be offended.

"Hey, I don't know if you know, but I've already time-traveled. And so has Starfire. You two are still here, even though all that stuff happened." Gabe raised his hand, stopping the words in his mouth. Cyborg wasn't completely sure it was just the gesture or if the young hero had really stopped him from speaking.

"Hang on." The green boy got up and walked away.

"Wait, you were going to..." But he had already disappeared around the generator's side. He looked to Michael for explanation, the boy was laughing. He calmed down slightly at Cyborg's confused expression.

"He's going to explain, don't worry. Man, this is hilarious when it's not happening to me."

"What do you mean?" Michael stopped laughing for a moment. Then hesitantly spoke, like he was trying to find the right way to say it.

"Gabe is...sort of brilliant. I don't know. He just gets things. Knows stuff he shouldn't and doesn't need to. It might be the telepathy, but we aren't sure. He'll have these epiphanies but nobody ever understands him. So he has to dumb it down for us. Either that or he'll just run off and explain later. Sometimes I'll play dumb with him, just to see him get frustrated. It's the funniest thing ever. "

They sat in silence until a large green gorilla appeared with, unbelievably, a chalkboard. Setting it down, the gorilla turned back into Gabe. Then he turned to the two of them, and sighed.

"I am going to make this as simple as I can." He drew one very long line across the width of the entire board, splitting it half.

"This is the time line." He placed a point on the line near the middle.

"This is the past, where you are from." A stick figure was sketched in above the dot. Cyborg couldn't help noticing the stick figure was a little bit bulky with what could have been a sonic cannon.

"And this is you." He placed another point farther towards the end of the line.

"This is right now, which is currently our present and technically your future." Two stick figures appeared above the dot, one shorter than the other. Cyborg noted with a smirk that the shorter one had been given the added detail of hair.

"This is us. Now every choice made in our past, your present," Gabe pointed to the little dot that the Cyborg stick figure hovered above, "affects our present, or your future." He motioned to the dot his own stick figure stood above.

"So you come here. Say we tell you a few details and then you go back. And you tell the other Titans everything we told you. They make a choice based on what they think they know about the future. Only the choice they made doesn't follow the timeline." He drew in a dot between the _past_ and _future_.

"Time isn't stable, it is constantly going through changes. So because of that choice, the whole timeline is altered," He drew a line branching out from the new dot. "making our timeline, the one with our future, partially or completely irrelevant." And with litte more than a swipe of his hand, he erased the half of the line that carried the 'future' and the two stick figures.

Cyborg stared quietly at the chalkboard, thinking.

"And the more I know, the bigger the chance that I'll end up destroying this future. Including you guys. Right?" Gabe nodded, smiling. Cyborg couldn't help smiling back.

He had often thought every once in a while that it would be neat to have another guy on the team that understood technology and such. Not saying that his team wasn't intelligent, it was just that they didn't have complex computers for brains. Apparently the small shapeshifter's team lacked the same thing.

"I get it. Trust me, I'm not going to tell anything to anybody. But I've got to get home. My team, including your dad, was in trouble." He clambered to his feet. "I can't remember much, but I know I've got to get back."

Michael stood up next to him, a grin to match Gabe's spread across his face.

"Of course. What do you think all this is for?" He swept an arm around at all the jumbled mess of wires and cables. "Gabe thinks it should work."

"Should?" Cyborg gave the small boy a sideways glance. The kid laughed nervously. Cyborg had to choke back the déjà vu.

"I've got a good track record with educated guesses. And I'm also insanely lucky." The room filled with red flashing light and the sound of a klaxon. The two boys looked at each other, then at Cyborg. Gabe laughed gently at the spectacle.

"Of course the alarm goes off. So Cyborg..." Michael pulled off the hoodie and sweats he was wearing to reveal a black and blue uniform.

"...are you ready..." Gabe's sleeveless uniform was in white and green, matching his sneakers.

"... to see..." Both boys pulled on gloves. The shapeshifter's were fingerless and the empath's reached to his elbows.

"...how the future whoops butt?" The twins finished the question in the same breath. Cyborg grinned.

"Of course. No offense, but it's about time somebody showed you all how it kick it old-school."

* * *

_Okay. I want to explain a few things about the Twins. I think they make sense, but you can be the judge. I made Michael blond because before Beast Boy was Beast Boy, he was Gar. And Gar was blond and normal looking. So he is blond. He is also bigger than Gabe because I am firmly in the camp that says Beast Boy can actually grow. So Gabe is following Beast Boy is being short for a very long time. Gabe is smart because I like that idea. You should be able to guess who the mom is (and a few of you have gotten it right ^_^ smart readers!). Just so you know, I'm not planning on doing these bottom notes often. Just when I want to explain stuff without spoiling anything. Anyways, hope you liked the new chapter! _


	4. Chapter IV

_Gah, I feel sheepish. Sorry it took so long, but I really did get stuck there for a while. And now it's six pages. Goodness. Anyways, Thanks to everybody who offered suggestions for the villain. I ended up going with something else, but there's a good chance that they may show up later on. Just going off of the way the episodes usually go, there's a minor villain fight, then something bigger later on. We've also got a new character showing up right at the end. ^_^ Let me know what you think. Enjoy!_

_I don't own the Titans. I do own the Twins, and the other new Titan that shows up right at the end. _

* * *

There were no flying cars. He hadn't really been expecting a lot, but it would have been interesting to see a few hover-vehicles.

Jump City looked a lot like it had twenty seven years ago. Only it was much bigger. The city now stretched so much farther towards the horizon. The suburbs looked bigger and there were buildings he had never seen before. But seeing as he was currently zooming over the city, it was hard to really see what was going on.

The disc of energy he was currently traveling on shifted slightly underneath his feet. It wasn't much, but the little movement was enough to throw him off balance. Which was not a good thing when the ground was so far away. He could barely hear the honking car horns. Thankfully, a gloved hand was right there to set him straight again. Michael had been carefully flying alongside the disc ever since they had left the Tower.

"Sorry, I normally don't have to do this. Just try not to fall." It was hard to hear the future Titan's words over the rush of the wind. Cyborg hollered back as loudly as he could, but he could barely hear his own voice.

"What do you think I'm doing?" A small blur of green whizzed past his ear. The jade sparrow quickly circled the blond empath's head, looking for attention. Michael watched the movements of the little bird and then nodded. He turned back to Cyborg.

"Gabe wants to know if he can connect with you." He pointed quickly between the little bird and Cyborg to make sure the message got through. He didn't bother trying to answer, but simply nodded. Instantly, an image of a sparrow imprinted itself on his mind's eye as Gabe's voice sounded through his head.

_I know you don't like telepathy, but this is the best way to talk when we're going this fast._

_What's up with the sparrow?_ Feeling the equivalent of hearing somebody sighing inside his head was the strangest thing he had ever experienced. Well, except for his initiation into the Titans. Michael's thoughts joined the mix.

_He has to stay focused or else he'll just turn back._

_Are you two ever not connected?_

_No._ Their timing was perfect, even in thought. It was slightly eerie. Gabe's voice echoed inside his head.

_I'll try and not project that so much._ The image of the bird slowly faded away and he could see where they were heading.

_The banking district. Is this thing a robbery?_

_Well, the old banking...Mike. Can you explain please? Focusing on not focusing on what you're focusing on is a lot harder than..._

_Don't worry little brother. Just keep flying and I'll fill him in. _

The sparrow gave a tweet of thanks then flitted ahead of them, leading the way. Michael drew closer to the flying disc as he began to explain.

_So when the city grew, the banking district ended up being too far from most of the public. A lot of the banks moved locations to be closer to downtown. The old bank buildings were bought up, ripped apart, and then turned into a mall._

Cyborg couldn't help but smile.

_A mall job? This is going to be fun._

The disc slowly started to lower towards the ground. He could sort of recognize where they were. But that wasn't the really important thing at the moment. It wasn't difficult to tell where the criminal was hiding. Crashing noises were echoing out into the street from a large double door.

He could go sight-seeing later.

Gabe dropped out of the sky, landing neatly next to him. With a smirk and sweeping motion, he bowed towards the door.

"After you, old timer." He could Michael snickering behind him. They wanted to mess with him, fine. Three could play that game.

Cyborg pushed past the smaller boy, grumbling loudly on purpose.

"Stupid little pointy-eared goofballs." Both boys laughed and followed him through the doors.

"You forgot _'from the future'_." Michael's comment was enough to bring a smile to his face, but he wasn't going to laugh. It was time to get down to business. Apparently the two boys at his back knew that too, because the laughter faded away. They followed close behind as he entered the atrium.

It was a pretty building. Cyborg was pretty sure they were in the food court. Fast food joints lined the walls. There was a planter that took up a lot of space in the middle. Light drifted in from the huge skylight. A couple stained glass panes threw bright strips and squares of multicolored light across the tile floors. Little café tables dotted the area, and there were vendor carts every few yards.

He could already tell that on a good day, this was a much better mall than the one from his time period. However, the lack of people and toppled tables just highlighted the fact that something was wrong. The sounds and the crashing noises had disappeared, leaving them in silence.

He heard Gabe gasp, like some one had knocked the wind out of him. Cyborg whirled around, sonic cannon charged and ready to fire. Except there wasn't any enemy, just Gabe racing away down the hall. He let the energy in his arm fade away as he jogged after the smaller boy, Michael flying next to him.

The little guy was just as fast as his dad had been. They ran past a dozen store fronts, all of them empty. The floor was littered with broken glass from the windows and displays were toppled from their stands. Every single one of the shops they passed was deserted, but he couldn't shake the feeling they were being watched.

The small shapeshifter stopped dead in front of a book store. His shoes crunched gently on glass shards as he moved slowly inside. Cyborg slid to a halt next to the door and watched as Gabe moved farther and farther into the store. Michael dropped lightly to the ground next to him and together they watched his brother wander slowly though the aisles. Panting, he spared a glance at the blond empath.

"Is the guy here or what?" Michael stared around the room and shelves of books, then at his brother's back. He looked slightly concerned.

"I'm not sure. Gabe?" He called to his twin, but Gabe wasn't paying attention.

The young shapeshifter held his arms up in front of him, as if he couldn't see the shelves around him. He continued to walk slowly into the depth of the store, feeling his way through.

"Gabriel, what is it?" Michael was a little louder this time, but the shapeshifter ignored them both. He turned around slowly on the spot, facing them both. His eyes were closed, focusing on something. With a quick breath, big blue green eyes opened.

It was almost too fast for Cyborg to see. One moment, Gabe was standing in front of them. The next, a giant green tiger had leapt over his head. He dropped to the ground instinctively and rolled for the nearest cover, which happened to be a giant bookcase. He took a moment to charge his sonic cannon, then ran out into the open.

The tiger had pounced on what looked like a giant writhing pile of tentacles. Some of them were nearly 15 feet long. They whipped around quickly, knocking back any attack the two boys made against it. Some kind of slime was left behind where ever a tentacle landed. It splattered the room as the creature fought against the twins. He wasn't sure what it was. There was no face at all, just dozens of arms. It reminded him a little of Plasmus, but he had been made of goop not covered in it.

The thing was sitting in the doorway, taking up the entire entrance to the store and blocking their exit. He had no idea where it had been hiding. Something that large would have made a sound if it had oozed up behind them. Maybe it had stuck itself to the ceiling with it's slime like a gecko or something.

A gorilla flew into the bookshelf that had seconds before been his cover. Gabe sat up and shook his slime covered hair out of his eyes with a growl. He looked over at where Cyborg had temporarily frozen.

"C'mon man! I thought you were going to show us how to _'kick it old-school'_." With that, the young Titan charged headlong back into the brawl. Cy couldn't help but smile.

There was fun to be had.

"Alright ya'll, time for some good old-fashioned butt kicking!"

Before he had even managed to get close though, one of the longer tentacles had swooped out of nowhere and knocked him back. He smashed into one of the walls solidly, books and ripped pages falling around him as he slid to the floor. With a small growl, he charged the thing again.

Only instead of rushing straight at it again, he took advantage of the scenery. Cyborg had never really liked darting around in a fight. The slime that was now covering the floor didn't make the going any easier. A tentacle swooped in at him from the left. He vaulted over the thick slimy arm and nearly slipped in the goo covering the ground. As he skidded around in the muck, he couldn't help but think of his best friend.

* * *

_The excited boy shoved the book in front of his face. A glossy picture of one of the weirdest things he had ever seen was suddenly staring him in the face. It looked like an over-grown slug, complete with little antennae. Or maybe a leech._

"_It's a hagfish!" He suppressed a shiver. It was the ugliest fish he had ever seen._

"_Little buddy, are you sure it's a fish?" Beast Boy shivered with happiness.  
_

"_Yeah! Dude, it's amazing. It makes this slime when it's attacked. So the predators can't catch hold of it. And it's got these fibers in it, so they get all tangled up and choke. They call it the 'slime eel'. Isn't that cool!" He hadn't imagined the impressed note in the boy's voice. The next villain they fought would probably come face to face with a little green slime machine. _

"_B, no offense. But that is the grossest thing I've ever seen or heard of. Besides, what's some slime gonna do?" The smaller boy had laughed evilly._

"_Just you wait, dude. With enough slime, you could rule the world!"_

* * *

Of course, Beast Boy would be right. And of course, he wouldn't have to deal with all the mess. Maybe he could bring some of this stuff back with him. There were endless prank possibilities with this much slime at his disposal. He dodged yet another arm, punching it hard as he passed. The creature gave a squeal that seemed to resonate from its entire body. The sound wave knocked him off his feet. It also hit Michael, who fell out the air and crashed into the ground next to him.

Cyborg lifted himself out of the huge puddle of slime he had landed in. It was almost as bad as fighting Plasmus. But when Plasmus slimed you, the slime stayed together. This stuff was working its way into his joints and in between the smallest seams in his armor. It was probably going to take hours to clean all this stuff out. He watched a glop of the goop drop from his fingertips. Gagging, he stood.

"This is getting really old really fast." Cyborg helped Michael off the ground. The telekinetic gave a small laugh and brushed off some slime from his shoulder.

"Just be happy you aren't Gabe. If this stuff sets, it's worse than bubble gum." He glanced over to where the large bear was grappling with four or so tentacles. The dark green fur was slicked down from the amount of ooze. It was gross, but he couldn't help laughing. The bear roared in annoyance.

_Are you going to just stand there laughing or are you actually going to hero up?_

Cyborg sobered up quickly, pulling out his sonic cannon.

"What do I aim for?" Michael had flown back out into the fight, giving his brother backup. A shimmering flash sliced through a thick arm reaching for the now struggling gorilla. Gabe's voice was clear and sharp inside his head.

_Towards the middle, where are the tentacles join. Wait until you get a clear shot. We don't want to draw this out any longer than.._

The large monkey was knocked aside. Gabe went flying through one of the remaining windows. The sound of shattering glass was drowned out by Michael slamming a bookshelf, complete with books, into the creature's body. The wooden shelves made an odd squishing noise on impact.

Apparently, the thing didn't like being pummeled with bookshelves. A high pitched keening sound suddenly filled the entire room. It had an odd gurgle, like a whistle from underwater. The sound was high enough to shatter the skylight in the hall. Pieces of tempered glass fell in the walkway like diamonds, but Cyborg didn't hear them when they hit the ground. Books exploded on the shelves, pages shaken loose from their bindings. He was almost certain the building was shaking on its foundation.

The thing was making the sound, resonating it to a fever pitch. It was a good defense. He tried to aim, but the sound was throwing him off balance. It wouldn't have been much help even if he could have. The ringing in his ears was making it hard for him to focus on diverting energy to his sonic cannon.

The twins weren't doing much better. He spared a glance for his new teammates while he struggled to remain upright. Michael had fallen to his knees, eyes screwed shut. The blond was biting his lip, hands clamped tightly over his ears. Gabe was out cold from the combined noise and crashing through a window. He could barely see the small shapeshifter's body over the mass of slimy writhing tentacles.

Cyborg barely noticed when the sound stopped. His head was ringing too loudly for anything else to make sense. He saw the hulking mass actually move for the first time. It oozed slowly over the pages of destroyed books and pieces of wood. The ground where it had been sitting during the fight was eaten away, like acid. Dizzily, he watched the wreckage it passed over start to steam and disintegrate.

"Michael, what do we do?" He turned to the blond. The empath was unconscious. He looked back to the slimy squid-like creature. It was moving towards Gabe's unconscious body.

"Not my best friend's kid, you slime ball!" Cyborg charged the creature the best he could with the barest inkling of a plan in mind. With a giant leap, he landed on the things back. Then he began pummeling it as best he could. A tentacle wrapped around his ankle. It tossed him across the room into a rather solid wall.

Cyborg slid down the wall. With a groan, he tried to stand. But nothing was responding. His entire frame was clogged with that slime, not to mention his systems were still scrambled from the noise. So he had to watch as the giant octopus thing got ready to digest one of the future Titans.

The thing moved so slowly, it was torture to watch. He turned his eyes to the sky just in time to see something fly through the broken skylight. Something he knew anywhere.

A starbolt. Just as bright and shining as he remembered.

It slammed into the top of the creature. The thing hadn't expected the attack. It stopped moving completely, and began lashing out with its tentacles for the attacker. One of them managed to find Gabe's arm.

It wrenched the small shapeshifter up, and began wrapping multiple arms around him. It started squeezing, the slime covering the tentacles oozing up to cover the unconscious boy's face. Cyborg realized with a jolt that Gabe was going to suffocate. There was only so long a person could go without air.

A strangled cry sounded through the skylight and starbolts began battering the top of the creature. It shrieked and groaned in pain, tentacles lashing in around in a frenzy. He winced in sympathy as Gabe was smashed into the ground.

"Gabriel!" Something flew down through the skylight. The figure caught the arms holding the telepath captive. A moments struggle later, and the two both moved to a safe distance. He struggled to his feet to get a better look at the new comer.

Blackfire? That made no sense. But it had to be. Starbolts and dark hair, he didn't know who else it would be. The girl was shaking Gabe, trying to get a response.

"Please Gabriel. Wake up! You need to wake up!" She was too busy to notice the creature was closing in on them.

Cyborg raced out the door of the shop, cannon charging as he went. Jumping into the air, he aimed and fired. The shot wove through the mass of arms and impacted the body.

Apparently the combined sonic cannon, starbolts, and bookshelves was too much for the creature. It gave one final shriek, then lay still. Cautiously, he walked over to the thing. With one metal boot, he nudged the closest tentacle. Nothing. He smirked.

"Booyah." Now to figure out what the heck was going on.

* * *

_Ah, a notso cliffie! Hopefully, it won't take as long to get the next chapter up. As for the new character, it's not Blackfire, and you are all smart. So get to guessing! It shouldn't be that hard. ; )_


	5. Chapter V

_I wrote most of this, then my computer closed it. Then I had to find it, reopen it, then went over it again, and fixed up some stuff. Sorry it took so long. Thanks for hanging in there and hope you enjoy!_

_I own anybody you don't recognize. Namely the Twins, my monster who will now be called Squid Lee, and Not-So-Mystery Girl that will be introduced a little later. Everything else is somebody else's._

* * *

Carefully, Cyborg picked his way across the tentacle covered floor. Metal boots squishing in the slime, he had to try his very best not to slip and fall into the creature. He was almost certain that the thing wasn't going to wake up any time soon. But that didn't mean he was going to push his luck. Especially when his day had been going like this. He would have tried to restrain the thing, but something told him handcuffs weren't going to work. Besides, he had bigger things to deal with.

"Gabriel, wake up!" The girl was still yelling at the unconscious shapeshifter. She had picked the young Titan up, and was now cradling him in her arms. Cyborg couldn't help but notice how gently she brushed the remaining slime off Gabe's face. It was just tender enough to make him feel awkward about watching.

One of his big feet crunched on a shard of glass. Instantly, the girl's head whipped up to find the source of the noise. He had been expecting a starbolt, something. Some kind of attack, but instead she had simply looked up at him. Very bright blue eyes gave him a look he knew from somewhere. Suddenly he felt like he needed to be running laps or doing something useful.

She took a few moments to assess him, friend or foe. Cyborg was desperately hoping he'd manage to get into the friend category. Then with a huff, she made up her mind.

"Help him. I do not know who you are or how you have come here, but you must help him." The girl desperately motioned to the unmoving boy in her arms. He nodded quickly. Something about the look she was giving said that unnecessary talk would not be tolerated.

Carefully, he knelt on the other side of Gabe. With practiced ease, he started running a scan on the small shapeshifter. Cyborg could feel the girl's blue eyes piercing into him. It was making him a little uncomfortable. He had already seen what this girl could do when she got physical. With a small cough, he tried to break the silence.

"There's a pulse, pretty steady. I don't know why he won..." Suddenly the young Titan sat up with a start, the slime puddle beneath them squelching in protest. Eyes wide, he started speaking in midsentence.

"...when the two cross, the outcome of the second's dependency of the first is neutralized as the first consequently never occurred to initiate the creation of the latter which leads the possible options to be rendered impossible, consequently and simultaneously removing the contradictions and creating a new variety of options that will..."

Before Cyborg could say anything, the girl had raised a hand to slap the newly conscious shapeshifter across the face and back into reality. Cyborg flinched sympathetically but the blow never landed. Instead, she changed her mind at the last second and chose to wrap the younger man up in one of the biggest bear hugs he had ever seen. It was probably comparable to one of Starfire's. If Gabe hadn't been doused in slime, he would have been crushed. The girl didn't mind though. Instead she only pulled the younger man closer.

"Gabriel, you stupid little boy. Do not ever do that to me again." The hug seemed to pull the young man out of his stupor. The words died off as the teen began squirming to get away.

"Starling! Starling, stop. I'm okay. Stop it, c'mon. You're gonna get all...great. Now you're all slimy too." She laughed brightly. Cyborg immediately decided that he liked this girl happy more than intimidating.

"No matter what methods you devise, the slime always manages to cover nearly all of our possessions and most of the Tower. Perhaps you should stop fighting against the inevitable." She released Gabriel with another laugh. The young man sighed and shook his hands slightly to rid them of the slime.

"I would, but it's my job. And I'm so close now. I know I can do this." It was for a split second, but Cyborg could have sworn he saw a little bit of Raven in the kid. It was the same expression she had worn when they had first fought as a team. There was the same resignation of fighting a pointless battle, but the same understated determination was also written across the shapeshifter's face. But it was an odd response to a simple matter of slime.

Gabe's smile reappeared the very next moment and suddenly Cyborg realized he was staring again. If he made this into a habit, there'd probably be quite a few issues to crop up a little later. The boy must have felt his gaze or at least his thoughts because he suddenly smiled and motioned to the girl kneeling at his side.

"Cyborg, this is Starling. She's one of the Titans. I guess one of my Titans would make a little more sense." He could already see the long flow of words and thoughts getting ready to make an appearance, but thankfully the girl cut across Gabe before the telepath began to speak. She extended a hand towards him with a smile.

Her long black hair was very straight, held back from her face with a band. Combined with her dark blue eyes, she looked almost normal. Only the image of starbolts flying in from above and the pressure sensors going crazy in his hand wouldn't let him write her off as normal. And then again, most normal girls didn't wear ruby-colored spandex outfits.

"It is my honor Cyborg. Please excuse my teammate. He tends to become easily distracted by possibilities. I also ask forgiveness for my previous shortness. I did not intend to be so rude. I was simply concerned for the wellbeing of my friend." Cyborg took the offered hand with a smile of his own. He most definitely liked this girl better when she was happy. And he most certainly hadn't missed the slight sideways glance towards Gabe on the word 'friend'.

"It's all right. I'm pretty much the same way with my own team." Starling frowned, looking confused.

"Your team? You are a Titan?" His nod only seemed to make things even more confusing. She turned her gaze fully onto Gabe, who had just managed to clamber to his feet. "Gabriel?"

The young man didn't respond for a moment, simply staring around at the wreckage of the mall and the huge lump of slime-producing tentacles. He heaved a great sigh, slim shoulders sagging at the destruction. Slowly rubbing at his eyes, he mumbled under his breath.

"Council is gonna have my head for this one." Starling stood as well. Not wanting to be left sitting alone in a pool of slime, Cyborg quickly rose as well.

"Gabriel, how is this possible?" Starling asked again, slightly more insistent. The shapeshifter continued to ignore her. Turning his back on the both of them, he called out towards the entrance the now trashed bookstore.

"Michael! C'mon, we need to get out of here before the press and Emergency Response gets here." The telekinetic's annoyed voice floated out through the empty windowframes.

"Do you really need to shout? My head's still ringing from that stupid attack." Gabe frowned and then closed his eyes. His twin suddenly staggered out into the hallway, moving jerkily. Michael didn't seem too happy about the whole thing.

"Alright, alright! I get it. We need to get out of here. Now quit it." The blond stopped moving as Gabe reopened his eyes, a satisfied smirk spreading across his face. With a sigh of indignation, Michael flew over the mess of strewn tentacles to the small group.

"I'm fine by the way, thanks for asking. I'm really touched by all the care." Michael snapped childishly. Cyborg couldn't suppress a grin. Gabe laughed outright before pushing his slime-filled hair back and away from his face, letting his brother's remarks roll off him.

"Good. I'm really glad to hear it. Now let's get out of here." Gabe's eyes looked towards the shattered skylight, but Michael seemed to have a different idea. He raised a hand towards his brother. The shapeshifter frowned at his bigger twin's movement.

"You really want to do that? You were unconscious until about a minute ago. You don't have the energy..." Cyborg turned away from the argument to Starling, who was glaring at Gabe's back. He spoke quietly so the twins could continue their debate in peace.

"Why do we have to jet before the press gets here? I mean, the people always like to know about their heroes." She didn't take her eyes off the arguing pair, but answered back just as quietly.

"They do. However, the public does not tend to see our activities as heroism." Cyborg frowned at that.

"Then what do they think risking your butts to protect the city is?" Starling managed to tear her eyes away from the arguing twins. She gave the cybernetic teen a sad smile.

"Costly."

"Come on then!" They both jumped at Michael's voice. Cyborg looked over to an oddly familiar scene.

The boys had fallen into battle-ready poses. Michael's clenched fists were glowing ominously as he stared down his smaller sibling, who was crouched low to the ground in a stance Beast Boy had always favored. For a second, nobody moved. Cyborg wasn't looking forward to it, but he'd break up a brawl between the brothers if he needed to. Just before he moved to intervene, Gabe let his shoulders go loose. With a groan, he straightened up completely. Gabe rubbed at his eyes briefly and took a slow breath. Apparently, he managed to collect himself enough to look up at his brother.

"Fine. We'll do it, but we need to hurry. I can hear the sirens coming." Michael nodded and let the energy fade from his hands. Starling moved closer to the two boys, her expression grim. She gripped Gabe's shoulder and turned him sharply so he had to face her.

"Gabriel Logan, what is the meaning of this? Who is he?" She gestured behind her towards Cyborg. "You should not keep secrets from your team."

For a very long moment, all four of them stood still. Cyborg could almost see the gears turning inside the young boy's head, weighing all the options. Then a very familiar smile broke out across his face.

"Starling, I owe you answers and you're gonna get them. But we need to get out of here right now. Okay?" Looking over her shoulder, he looked straight at Cyborg.

"And I haven't forgotten about you either. All the answers you want." He smiled again, that big reassuring smile. Cyborg couldn't help but grin back.

Cyborg couldn't help but like this kid. Even though he really didn't know him. Even though he was starting to get the feeling Gabriel was holding something back. But as the twins created a portal that was apparently supposed to take them all back to the Tower, he couldn't help but trust Gabriel when he made promises. It was probably that smile. He had never been able to really worry properly when Beast Boy had smiled like that.


End file.
